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South China Morning Post
29 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Does Hong Kong's loan shark law proposal lack bite needed to tame debt collectors?
A proposal to tighten regulations over Hong Kong's notorious loan sharks is too narrowly focused and will not tackle the root problem of unruly debt collectors, according to lawmakers and legal experts. Advertisement The legislators and specialists criticised the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau's plan to set a cap on borrowing activity for low-income earners and impose stricter rules for loan 'referees', saying it failed to tackle the shadowy network of intermediaries who enabled predatory lending. The bureau is seeking public feedback between June and August over proposals to tie unsecured personal loans to a borrower's income, either through an aggregate loan cap or a debt servicing ratio. It has also floated the idea of banning the use of referees altogether to stop the widespread harassment of third parties. 'Harassment is against the law, but harassment happens every day,' lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said. 'People wonder if there is lawlessness in Hong Kong.' At a Legislative Council meeting on Monday, the government said that the Companies Registry had received 725 complaints about money lenders in the past five years. Referrals to police were made in 509 of the cases, which authorities said showed the need for tougher regulation. Advertisement Last year, the registry received 214 complaints, conducted 561 inspections and issued 22 warning letters. These included 58 complaints involving domestic helpers, of which 18 directly concerned moneylenders harassing loan referees.
South China Morning Post
30 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Xiaomi guns for home appliances after disrupting smartphones and EVs. Will it succeed?
When Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi launched its first electric vehicle (EV) in March 2024, few believed it could rival industry leaders like Tesla, BYD, Xpeng and Li Auto. Advertisement After a surprisingly strong debut and with the company's EV segment poised to break even this year, however, the Beijing-based firm is now embarking on an ambitious push into another sector to challenge established competitors: the home appliances market. Partly fuelled by Beijing's aggressive subsidies to boost consumption, Xiaomi – which sold its first washing machine in 2018 – posted a nearly 114 per cent growth in its large home-appliances segment in the first quarter. Its shipments of air conditioners and refrigerators both surged 65 per cent from a year ago, while shipments of washing machines doubled, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange in May. Xiaomi's executives reportedly aim to break into the industry's top three in three years, banking on the company's rapid rise. Its large home-appliance sales jumped over 56 per cent last year, outpacing the three leading players in the sector: Midea's sales rose about 9 per cent, Haier's increased less than 4 per cent, while Gree's declined more than 4 per cent. Advertisement The company is targeting a market that Midea had valued at over 854 billion yuan (US$119 billion) in 2023 – or 36.5 per cent of the global total – making it the world's largest. The Chinese market is set to grow at a compound annual rate of over 5 per cent from 2023 to 2027, outpacing the US at about 2 per cent and Europe at 1.4 per cent, according to Midea.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
‘Mentally debilitating': Hong Kong couple faces threats, harassment from loan sharks
When his health supplement business struggled with cash-flow problems, Bobby Tan* turned to a so-called professional networking group in Hong Kong for help, borrowing HK$300,000 (US$38,220) from a licensed small lender in April last year. Over the next 10 months, the Hong Kong permanent resident from Southeast Asia continued to take on more debt, borrowing from 30 different licensed moneylenders for a total of HK$5.05 million. Each lender charged him an illicit upfront 'commission' of 15 to 30 per cent in addition to other expenses – effectively an interest rate of 1,031 per cent. After deducting agents' commissions, he only received HK$4.15 million in loans. Having repaid more than HK$4.78 million, these lenders, who operate no differently from loan sharks, are still chasing Tan for HK$1.87 million. When Tan overborrowed and was living in fear of being chased back for unpaid loans in December last year, the agents persuaded him to use his wife's name, Alicia*, to borrow more.
